Terrestrial Chironomidae (Diptera)

Some SEM micrographs of larval morphology...


Pseudosmittia longicrus (K.)

PL-head.jpg (200517 octets)

PL-md.jpg (20083 octets)

Head and anterior parapods Mandible, lateral view

PL-ant.jpg (20392 octets)

PL-maxp.jpg (20237 octets)

Reduced antenna Maxillary palp
<lacking picture> <lacking picture>
Labrum & premento-hypopharyngeal complex Mentum
<lacking picture> <lacking picture>
Posterior part of the boby Posterior parapods & anal tubules

 


The shape of the mandible, the maxillary palp, as well as the reduced antenna are characteristics of the genus. Labrum with setae SI and SII bifid, SIII simple. Mentum with a single median tooth and five lateral teeth. Posterior parapods strongly reduced, four anal tubules.

Larvae of this species were abundant in the very thin soil of a dry heathland in Brittany (France). They were able to withstand summer drought in aestivation cocoons. Adults emerged twice a year in spring and autumn.

See the following paper:
Delettre, Y.R. (1988) Flux d'évaporation corporelle et résistance à la dessiccation chez les larves de quelques Chironomidae terrestres (Diptera). Revue d' Ecologie et de Biologie du Sol, 25:129-138.

© Yannick R. Delettre, 1984, 2000.

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